Goose Dance Finish

Goose Dance is finished! I knew I was going to quilt my fat flowers design with some loops but I decided to add swirls with hooks as well. It was done in next to no time. 

Why do I take a quilt out from under the Bernina where I’ve finished the binding, and throw it around on the ground for photos? 🤷🏻‍♀️ It works!

I like it more now that it is quilted. 

I love the gingham binding! I’ve never used gingham to bind a quilt, and I wouldn’t have thought of it, except for the original designer in the magazine who did that.

Interesting difference in light! The first two photos were taken at the same time but in the front of the house where the sun had nearly set; this one was taken in the back on my patio table.

I had the idea to do some ghost triangles opposite the large ones. I actually think that would have looked super cool had I done them all, but I was already 3/4 of the way through quilting eight inches of the quilt and there was no way I was going to unpick it. One of the things about making quilts for oneself or for donation is that it leaves me feeling free to experiment a bit so I thought, why not just randomly placed throughout the quilt? 

So I did three. Can you find them?

It wasn’t until I'd finished my quilt shoot and the quilt was perched on a dining room chair where I was finishing up my supper on Saturday that I noticed a large area I’d missed quilting! I’d looked at and photographed this quilt a lot over the previous few hours and hadn’t seen it until it was basically right under my nose! Can you spot it in any of the photos above? If not, look below:

It won’t be a problem because I can put it under my the needle of my Bernina start at the inside of one of the petals of that flower and quilt in a swirl and hook, and maybe a couple of loops!

Here is that area, quilted on my Bernina after I had this post pretty much ready to publish:

Before I forget, here is the back:

I used nine of the ten fat quarters in the bundle, two blocks of each but for one, which has only one block because I made a block using the gingham to tie in the binding I knew I was going to use. So the top left fat quarter is the tenth that was in the bundle. I didn’t use it because I felt it had too large of white spaces; in fact, the one with the leaves that I did use, I almost chucked it and put in something else from stash. But then I decided to just go with it.

Here it is being built on my design wall.

I used the leftover bits of some of the fat quarters to build the back (I’ve decided to stop saving these, just use them up) and pulled some chunks of grey from my stash to get it big enough.

I’m not sure where it will go, perhaps in my shop since I haven’t added a quilt for sale for some time. 

My impatiens ‘bushes’ are still going strong! This deep pink one is my favourite. 

Quilt Stats:

Size: 48" square
Fabric: fat quarter bundle from Windham Fabrics; background is Modern Background Essentials by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic for Moda

Batting: Fairfield 100% polyester

Backing: leftovers from bundle and stash

Quilted: on Avril: 49 273 stitches 

Threads: pieced on my Bernina with Coats & Clark cotton; quilted with Essential cotton 20867 Cream

I've made quilt backs in this manner for some time. Here are two fall quilts I pulled out last month and this month, where I did just that:

The flannel I’d bought for the back wasn’t wide enough, so I made a strip using leftovers from the front   I also incorporated the label as a part of the backing, something I like to do as it’s harder to remove if your quilt is ever stolen.

Here's the front. Might as well show it! Don’t believe it’s ever been on the blog. Correction: when I looked up Autumn Glory, below, which I know had been a Throwback Thursday post, I found Harvest Melody, so if you'd like a few more details on this almost 20 year old quilt, click away. I added all the pieced borders around the panel.

I’m not such a fan of it now that I’ve been educated as to the true history of Turtle Island, aka North America. Although pilgrims do not figure in Canadians’ Thanksgiving, they do represent colonialism. I also have a problem with the way Indigenous peoples are portrayed here. However, the quilt is heavy and warm with all the flannel and Warm and Natural batting so it comes out for October.

Here is the other, Autumn Glory, which is on our bed each November. It has a flannel back, cobbled together from left over chunks of fabrics I'd collected to make a quilt jacket, as well as one chunk of leftover backing for another quilt.

I will never be as good as Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation at using it ALL up (though a sincere effort is being made) as well as making a proper design on the back as opposed to my cobbled-together look.

Speaking of those scraps, I must share two quilts made with my free tutorial for Strippy Slab Stars. It is always a thrill to see someone else sew up one of my designs! This first one is by Anne-Marie of Stories From the Sewing Room:

Doesn't it just sing?

and this second one is by Nancy on Instagram:

She's adding a green border, but only posted a corner pic. She did a log cabin-style centre instead of the slab centre in the pattern.

Finally, everyone has suddenly become a no-reply, myself included. I've googled to try to find a fix to no avail at this point. Blogger/Google is most frustrating. Please include your email in your comment, or at least say it's Sandra from mmmquilts or whatever so my gmail will pull up your address if I've emailed you before. If you're Anonymous I have no way of replying. 

They fixed it🙄

Linking up

My Quilt Infatuation

Alycia Quilts

From Bolt to Beauty

Songbird Designs

Quilting & Learning - What a Combo

Quilting Jetgirl